UN: Over 700 Migrants Dead in Mediterranean Shipwrecks3.5 out of 5 based on 4 ratings. 4 user reviews.

UN: Over 700 Migrants Dead in Mediterranean Shipwrecks

Donate

The UN’s refugee agency says, 3 separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean south of Italy have claimed the lives of more than 700 migrants in the recent days.

Initially, the information appeared on the Twitter of Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Representation for Southern Europe.

“Sunday counting victims. Macabre exercise: will the world realize the over 700 people should have deserved a safe passage?” Carlotta wrote.

Separately, Carlotta told AP that about 100 migrants went missing after a smuggler’s boat capsized on May 25.

On May 26, about 550 asylum seekers went missing after the boat, carrying some 670 migrants, left the Libyan port of Sabratha. The boat had no engine and was towed by another smuggling boat. According to Carlotta at least 104 people managed to survive.

Then on May 27, in another incident, rescuers saved 135 migrants and recovered 45 bodies. The exact amount of people on board is as yet unclear.

UNHCR spokesman Federico Fossi comfirmed the report to AFP:

“The situation is chaotic, we cannot be sure of the numbers, but we fear up to 700 people may have drowned in three shipwrecks this week.”